Dear ASX ShareholderOn 17 February 2017, ASX Limited (ASX) announced its half-year results for the six months to 31 December 2016 (1H17). The overall performance was pleasing with solid growth in most of ASX's businesses. Profit after tax rose 3.0% to $219.4 million.There were healthy levels of equity and derivatives trading activity, underpinned in part by volatile market reaction to Brexit and the US Presidential election. The daily average value traded on ASX's equity market rose 2.6% to $4.2 billion and the number of futures and options contracts traded increased 9.7% to over 535,000 per day. The number of new listings also grew across the period to 86, up from 77 at the same period last year. The total amount of capital raised was down, reflecting the comparison with last year's strong level of secondary raisings by Australia's big four banks.Macro-economic tailwinds in conjunction with ASX's own strategic initiatives continue to provide opportunities for the company's long-term growth.

The value of ASX-listed stocks, as measured by the All Ordinaries Index, rose 1.5% in February 2017. This performance was consistent with most major markets, including Hong Kong up 1.6%, Singapore up 1.6%, the UK up 2.3%, Germany up 2.6% and the US up 3.7%. Japan was up 0.4%.Volatility measures for the Australian equity market decreased during February: Volatility (as measured by the average daily movement in the All Ordinaries Index) was 0.3% in February, down on the previous month (0.5%). Expected future volatility (as measured by the S&P/ASX 200 VIX) in February was an average of 12.1 (compared to 13.1 in January).LISTINGS AND CAPITAL RAISINGS In February 2017, total capital raised was $1.6 billion, down 73% on the previous corresponding period (pcp).